Swedish car maker creates stand-alone electrified performance brand.
Meet the newest player in the world of performance cars - Polestar.
Swedish brand Volvo has announced its high-performance division will stand apart from its mainstream models. Instead, Polestar will offer electrified performance variants of Volvo's models wearing a unique badge.
Polestar was originally set-up as an partner to Volvo for its racing programs before eventually establishing a tuning division which produced upgrades for the S60, V60, XC60 and XC90. Volvo acquired the brand in 2015 and took production of the performance models in-house.
Now it has appointed Thomas Ingenlath, senior vice president of design and the man credited with the brand's current styling, as chief executive officer of Polestar to oversee its separation.
"Thomas heading up the Polestar organisation shows our commitment to establishing a truly differentiated stand-alone brand within the Volvo Car Group," said Håkan Samuelsson, president and chief executive of Volvo Cars.
How much freedom Ingenlath and his team have to create its new models remains unclear but his background in design suggests there should be significant visual differences between a Volvo and Polestar model.
What is clear is that future Polestar models will rely on electrification, initially hybrids and ultimately fully electric powertrains.
"Polestar will be a credible competitor in the emerging global market for high performance electrified cars," Samuelsson said. "With Polestar, we are able to offer electrified cars to the world's most demanding, progressive drivers in all market segments."
The decision to offer hybrid powertrains is in keeping with Volvo's push into the electric vehicle market. The company confirmed in April that its first full EV model will launch in 2019.
Polestar has been working on performance hybrid powertrains since before Volvo's takeover and is believed to have a tuned version of the brand's T8 engine. The turbo and supercharged four-cylinder plug-in hybrid is already capable of producing 235kW of power plus a 65kW boost from the electric motor.
But while Polestar will offer stand-alone models the announcement also confirmed that it will continue to sell "optimisation" packages for the rest of the Volvo range, as it does today.
More details of Polestar's plans are expected to be revealed at the 2017 Frankfurt motor show in September.
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